3S8 TIIK I'dlNI' BAKKDW ESKIMO. 



tlii.-k stick of ivoiv icsenil.linu that iiswl l)y the eastern Eskimo.' We 

 l.rou-lit home two of these sticks, both of which belonj;- with the drum 

 No. :^;74.! |:il]. Fig. mUi (No. .">(m4(I |.UJ) is a roughly eylimlrical rod 

 ,,r Ivoi V with a hole for a lanyard. The larger end is ornanient.'d by 

 nulciy incised and darkened lines whic^h represent the eyes and outline 

 of th.'- mouth of a "bowhead" whale. Fig. 3866 (No. 56540 [31a]) is a 

 plain round stick of ivory it-4 inches long. It is rather roughly made 

 and somewhat warped. The use of the long stick is perhaps derived 

 from Siberia, where the short thick stick does not ap])ear to be used.- 

 Iloh's in the membrane of the drum are smuctinics iinnded witli 

 pieces of tlie crop of the jytarmigau. At any rate, tliis is wiiat I was tohl 

 by a native, who begged from me the crops of two of these birds that I 

 was skinning, saying that he wanted them to mend his drum. These 

 drums are always b(?aten as an accompaniment to invocations of spirits 

 or incantations. This practice is so common that some authors are in 

 the habit of always speaking of them as " shaman drums". As I have 



already stated, their most common use is purely as a niusicai instru- 

 ment, and they are used not only by the sof'alled "shamans" but by 

 ('veryt)ody. 



Chnrdcter and frcquvnvii of music. — Their music consists of monoto- 

 nous chants, usually with \-ery little perceptible air, and i)itched gener- 

 ally in a iiunor key. I could not perceive that they had any idea of 

 '•tune," in the musical sense, but when several sang together each 

 pitched the tune to suit himself. They, however, keep excellent time. 

 The ordinary songs are in " common" or | time.^ The words are often 

 extemporaneous, and at tolerably regular intervals comes the refrain, 

 " A yana y.ifia, a ydna ya," which takes the place of the " 4mua a,ia " 

 of the eastern Eskimo. Sometimes, when they are humming or singing 

 to themselves, the words are nothing but this refrain. Their voices^ 

 as a general thing, are musical. 



Like all Eskimo, they are very fond of music, and are constantly 



, i>t. 



581. (The people of Smith Sound use tl 

 -ry's 2(1 Voyage, pi. opposite p. 530. ai 

 est shore of Hudson Bay are described i 



